Leaf's Birthday Surprise
by TrainerLeaf
Summary: Leaf and Gary go to the carnival     I CAN'T WRITE SUMMARIES.


Leaf looked herself in the mirror. She brushed her hair for the millionth time, she patted down her green sundress, and even sprayed on a bit of perfume. Leaf never wears perfume on a everyday basis. It's not like she had boys lining up down the block for her, but today seemed appropriate.

So, why did wearing perfume seem so appropriate? An easy answer that didn't reveal much, was that today was Leaf's 18th birthday, and today she was going to be with her best friend all day.

Earlier in the week, Leaf received a phonecall from Gary asking if she wanted to go to the carnival with him on her birthday. After checking her mental planner, Kris was coming over, but for some reason Leaf wanted to be with Gary on her birthday. "I'd love to go," She told him. Today was Thursday, and here she is. Watching Gary talk to his mother from the window. His mom was embarrassing him. Leaf could tell.

Kris walked into her room, and plopped herself on the edge of Leaf's bed. "If I knew today you'd just leave me alone all day, I would've never traveled from New Bark Town." Kris clicked her tongue, "scolding" Leaf. "Well, I hope you have fun on this date."

"It's not a date." Leaf murmured under her breath, still fixated on Gary as his father now spoke to him. "What are they talking about that Gary looks so serious?" She thought out loud.

"Who cares..?" Kris was picking at her blue nail polish. Leaf watched Gary walk into the mass of people, who all most likely were heading to the carnival. Gary stuck out like a sore thumb in his leather jacket. He weaved through the crowd like a sewing needle through a piece of fabric. Leaf couldn't see it, but he was wearing a confident smile.

"I care..!" Leaf told Kris, who was giggling at her.

"Leaf, dearest sister, your face is red." She pointed at Leaf's face and started to laugh. Leaf covered her face, and charged at Kris, planning to tackle her playfully. Leaf was standing over her, and Kris had her arms out in front of her to protect herself when they heard a musical knock at the door. "Oh, there's your _date_." Kris narrowed her eyes, and sent out more giggles before bouncing off the bed. 'I'm commmmming!" Kris called down melodically. "Be ready soon." She told Leaf, and headed down the stairs.

Leaf rolled her eyes, "Kris.." she said quietly. She listened to Kris unlock the door, cueing Leaf to put on her white shoes. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

"Gary! You're here. Leaf's upstairs, she'll either be down here in a minute or a decade." A hearty laugh bounced off the walls in the house, "You can wait inside for her"

Leaf could hear Gary walked inside, and close the door. Leaf brushed her hair again, and had an internal battle whether or not to put her hair up. This problem was short lived.

Kris cupped her hands and called towards Leaf upstairs from the bottom step. "Leaf, c'mon hurry it up!" Before disappearing into the next room.

"Kris, no rush. I can wait." Gary politely stated. He wasn't going anywhere anyway. Leaf walked to the staircase. He heard her footsteps and Gary walked up to the staircase, waiting for Leaf. He looked down at his hands and noted they were sweaty.

Leaf walked down one step at a time, praying she doesn't make a fool of herself and slip. He was already waiting for her at the bottom, watching her walk down. She's never worn a dress around him before, so he couldn't take his eyes off her.

Leaf stepped in front of Gary, and in that moment he froze. He was unable to move, or speak. He felt as if someone was holding his arms to his side. Their faces were so close to each other. The tips of their noses almost touching. He was so tempted to lean a little more forward and feel her soft lips against his.

"No hug?" Leaf crossed her arms, looking a bit upset. Only to tease him. Gary snapped back into reality. She was really eager for a birthday hug from him. She tapped her foot and smiled.

Gary let a laugh escape through his lips," Of course anything for you." He opened his arms, allowing Leaf to walk into them and wrap her arms around him. He rested his chin on top of her head, and took a deep breath. "Is that perfume I smell?" He thought to himself.

Leaf laid her face against his jacket, and let out a sigh of happiness. She felt so safe with his arms around her. 'Wait, did I just taste cologne in my mouth?" She wondered to herself, and turned her head up to look at him. "Thank you." She said out loud to him. Her heart was beating so fast, she prayed he couldn't hear it.

Gary pat her head and her looked down. "Ready to go?" He asked her. Leaf was looking into his brilliant jade colored eyes.

'Sure." She was still gazing into his eyes. She didn't even want to blink. Only then, a flash of light made her blink. She turned towards the light source.

'Pictures!" Kris pulled the camera down from her face and winked. Leaf groaned, and rolled her eyes. Gary placed a hand on his hip and shook his head at Kris. "You two have for the three of us, y'hear?" Kris created a lightning a storm with her camera before bidding them goodbye.

"Let's get out of here," Leaf intertwined her arm with his," now." They waved at Kris, who was still snapping pictures every second and they headed towards the carnival.

Leaf dragged Gary throughout the carnival, daring to go on rides that twisted every way with her. Each ride gave him an upset stomach.

"Man up Gary!" Leaf nodded sternly and made a muscle showing off her "manliness."

The sun was slowly setting in the distance, turning the sky into a pallet of warm colours gradually turning darker at the top.

"Leaf, let's give my stomach a break, shall we? He giggled weakly, clenching onto his stomach. He was on the verge of throwing back up the cotton candy they've eaten earlier.

Leaf let out a sigh, "Fine." She glanced around looking for the next activity they could do together. She spotted a white and red booth. A dart game. "Let's test your skills, great Gary Oak!" He looked where she was pointing and nodded.

Leaf grinned and ran ahead, doing a couple twirls out of excitement on the way there, while Gary slowly-but-surely reaching the game booth. When he got there, she was already paid for the game and was holding out three darts for Gary. She was confident he'd lose this.

"Ready, Gary Oak?" She smiled slyly. Gary snickered and snatched the darts out of her hand. He turned to look at the board, crouched a little bit, squinted an eye, held his breath and threw the dart.

Bull's-eye.

'Go, Gary, go!" Leaf clapped and cheered him on. Gary smirked.

"This is too easy," he thought, "I'm going to impress her." Gary used the same technique as before, but this time he stuck out his tongue for concentration.

Another bull's-eye.

"Oh wow! He's pretty good. This is unexpected." Leaf cooed to herself about his dart throwing skills. "Come on Gary! One more you can do it!" She started clapping for him and pretended she had pom-poms. She suddenly felt like one of his silly cheerleaders. She dropped her arms by her side.

"Wait Leaf! I'm trying." He held that last dart between his index finger and thumb finger. Indulged in the thought that he may win this game.

Something caught Leaf's eye, this time it wasn't Gary. A yellow Pichu plush sat on the top shelf. She stepped around the booth to look at all the prizes, but Pichu was the cutest and biggest.

"Gary, if you make this one, I want this giant Pichu!" She called out to him, pointing at the toy. Gary nodded once, eye's staring dead on into the dart board. He threw the dart, and watched it gliding to hit the board.

A bell went off. Leaf covered her ears and laughed.

Bull's-eye.

Gary crossed his arms and grinned at his success. Leaf bounced over to him and hugged him from behind. She was having giggle fits. His breath was knocked out of his lungs from her hug. But, he laughed happily along with her.

"You're so awesome! She hugged him even harder. Gary turned red, but he wasn't sure if it was from her being so close, or the lack of oxygen.

"Young man! You're the first one to get three darts in! Any prize is yours for the picking." The middle aged man extended his arms showing off his prize selection, and grinned.

"The Pichu, please." Gary had a sanguine face. He was very pleased that he won. He pointed at the Pichu, and the man walked over to the toy and took it down from the shelf. It almost looked like the man had trouble carrying it over to them. The man handed the giant yellow Pichu plush to Gary, who in turn handed it to Leaf. She wrapped her arms around the Pichu. "Happy birthday."

She squealed," Thank you!" The toy was more than half her height, and was surprisingly heavy. She buried her face in the soft fabric.

The sun was down, and their day was quickly coming to an end. The two were standing in front of a photo both, waiting for their pictures to be printed. Leaf was holding the Pichu around the neck, and rocked back and forth on her heels. Gary watched her every movement. Admiring her.

Then they heard the sudden stop of the printer.

At the same time, they both reached for the strip of paper that the machine vended. Leaf got to it first.

'Aha! I win!" She held the pictures over her head as if it were a prize of some sort. Gary walked over to her, and glanced over her shoulders to look at the pictures.

He reached over her shoulder and pointed at a picture where Leaf was making a Psyducky face," Oh, I like this picture. You look cute in this one." He meant it. He looked down at her face and she looked up. They locked eyes and laughed. She glanced back down at the pictures.

"Hey, this one makes you look handsome." She tapped at the photo of Gary of him sticking his jaw out and frowning. "Me Gary, me handsome." She giggled at her effort of imitating a caveman. She looked up to see his face, he wasn't laughing. She saw him looking down at her, smiling shyly. Her heart skipped at beat," W-what's he thinking that he's looking at me like this?" She thought to herself, and looked down before he could see her face turn red.

"Before we leave, let's end the night with the ferris wheel." She turned and pointed at the Pokeball designed Ferris wheel. Oddly enough, there were no lines for it.

Gary slowly looked up from her, his eyes lingered on the back of her head before looking up at the direction she was pointing. He didn't even know what she said, he was preoccupied a minute ago. "Sure" he agreed to whatever she said anyway, hoping he'd answer right. He shoved his hands in his pockets, noticing that it was getting cooler.

She grinned and grabbed a hand out of his pocket. She fitted her dainty fingers between his and started pulling him in the direction of the towering ferris wheel, he almost tripped trying to keep up with her fast pace. On the way there, they crashed into people who thought it was entirely their fault that they were in the line of fire, apologizing quickly. Leaf had trouble running through the crowd with such a big toy that she dropped the Pichu constantly. Luckily, Gary was behind her picking up the toy after her, and laughing at her clumsiness. Leaf ran ahead, leaving Gary with the toy behind. She dove into a seat on the Ferris wheel.

Gary set the Pichu plush in front of the Ferris wheel. "Be good while mommy's up there." Gary pointed upwards and petted the toys head. She stared at him. Then he slid right next to Leaf, "What?" He grinned.

"You such a dork sometimes," She laughed at him, and he winked at her and laughed along with her.

The ferris wheel jerked in motion. Leaf bounced up and down in excitement. The chair rocked back and forth, Gary smiled at how silly she was behaving. He looked over the edge of the chair. Leaf saw him looking over the edge, and she looked on the other side. They watched silently as the world disappeared underneath them. Leaf hugged herself, hoping it will protect her from the cool air. The higher they got, the colder it got, the more she shivered. Gary took notice, and glanced behind him to see her. She was rubbing her arms.

"Leaf, are you alright?" His eyebrows arched. Leaf could hear in his voice he was worried about her, but she didn't want to feel like a burden, and it was her own fault she didn't see this coming.

She kept gazing at the scenery below them," I'm just a bit cold. No big deal." She answered him, not looking up at him. Then, silence. Gary didn't reply. Leaf was curious why he was quiet. She heard movement from him, then a zipper going downward. This caught her attention and she turned to face him. Gary took off his jacket, now holding it open, offering her to slip her arms into the sleeves.

"You sure? Won't you be cold?" She asked him with worry in her eyes. She was more concerned for him than for herself, even though she was the one in a sundress. She eyed the jacket, then him. He shook the jacket slightly, inviting her in.

"Don't worry about me." He smiled in a caring manner," I don't want you getting sick." Leaf smiled and stuck one arm in one sleeve, and Gary helped her through it. She zipped up the jacket to the top, and placed her hands on her laps. She looked so little in his big jacket, sitting on top of the world. She felt safe, most of all.

"Thank you, Gary." She placed her head on his shoulder, and breathed in the cool air. The cold air stung her nostrils making she sneeze. Gary smiled at her. She wrapped her arm around his, trying to get warmer. They gazed off at the dark blue sky, the carnival lights gleaming like stars below them. Suddenly, a light crept and disturbed the serene sky, hissing as it flew upwards. Then it exploded in an array of magnificent colours. Gary and Leaf leaned slightly forward gasped in awe.

'It's so amazing, isn't it?" Leaf squeezed his arm tighter, her eyes darted across the sky looking for more little rockets. She scooted closer to him, and noticed he was fidgeting. Leaf turned to look over at him.

'Not as amazing as you." Gary stared into her eyes. The world didn't exist, the noise of the carnival below them, faded into background static.

Leaf blushed, not hiding her face this time. "G-gary, you really mean that?" She felt his hand inching towards her. She didn't hesitate, and grabbed his. He pulled her closer, and her heart sank to her stomach. _Her heart was beating in her stomach._

"Yes, I mean it. More than anything." He looked her so softly. She didn't want this moment to pass quickly. She soaked up all the details. His brown hair which was messed up by now. His dark green shirt that he was wearing, also matching her dress. She wanted to remember the scenery. Everything. But time was moving so fast.

"Gar-" She started to speak but was cut short by his finger in front of her lips, barely touching them. Leaf held her breath, and watched his eyes draft across her face, inspecting every feature from her brown eyes to the tiny freckle under her left eye.

"Let me say something before you speak, Leaf," He stumbled with his words, he glanced upwards as if the courage to speak will fall from the heavens," Leaf-f," he sighed, and she giggled. He looked back down at her, smiled and chuckled once," I really like you." He pulled his finger from in front of her face. Now, it was her turn to inspect his face. Was he joking?

He wasn't.

No twitching eyes brows, he didn't look away, he just looked straight into her eyes. He smiled, and she smiled back. They let each other look at each other for a couple seconds like this, then they realized they were at the top. Leaf broke his gaze and glanced behind him and the world below.

Then, she looked over back at the boy who was smiling at her, eager to hear what she had to say.

"Gary, I really like you too." She blurted out. His eyes widened and lit up. "_So much_." She looked down at her dress, and fiddled with the jacket's zipper.

"Really?" He brushed her hair behind her ear, before placing his hands on her waist. "You mean that?" He batted his eyes, clearly mocking her.

"More than anything." She tried imitating his voice, and blushed. He pulled her closer to his body, and the last thing she saw before dropping her eyelids, was Gary carefully coming towards her face. The next thing she felt was the warmest softest lips against her own. She saw fireworks exploding and the colors twirled and lingered in her mind. She felt him trying to pull away, but she was hungry for a longer kiss. She pushed her head forward and opened her lips slightly. She placed a hand gently on the side of his neck, showing this kiss wasn't forceful and if he wanted to stop he was welcome to. Instead he responded by wrapping his arm around her, keeping her anchored to the seat, preventing from accomplishing her dream of flying, and kissed her the same way. Leaf was convinced if Gary could zoom into her eyes, behind the darkness of her lids to see the her fireworks then his, would match hers.

Gary was convinced the longer he held her the vivid flowing of his blood would match hers, and the quieter they remained they might even hear the popping in each other's ear. Leaf was certain she had no lungs, because with each passing second of this kiss more of her breath was taken away. She never wanted it to end, but she needed to breathe once again.

They pulled away from each other's lips, but their arms still remained wrapped around one another. In those brief seconds, the world stood still for them. The world was borrowed to them for a couple seconds. But, now they gave it back, and this was the reality. Their eyes were locked together. Their smiles the biggest they've been all night.

"That was amazing." Leaf whispered, only loud enough for him to hear. Gary raised his hand to her cheek and caressed her soft cheek in his hand. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. She held onto him, "You planned this, didn't you?" She teased him.

"You know me too well." A laugh escaped his lips. Another hissing rocket shot up across the sky, Gary grabbed her shoulders and planted a kiss on her smiling lips in sync with the explosion of the firework," Leaf, when we kiss, I see fireworks!" He exclaimed before laughing once again.

Leaf rolled her eyes, and giggled," You're such a dork." She buried her face into his shirt, still trying to live in this moment as much as possible. She took at deep breath, tasting that cologne he wore, and realized she didn't really like how it smelled. He was too good for cologne anyway. She backed up to see his face.

"If I may add, I'm your dork." He stuck out his tongue and put his arm around her. The ferris wheel ride was ending and he wanted to holder her longer. He did everything he could to accomplished that. He twirled a piece of hair between his fingers then brushed it against her nose, making her giggle.

"All mine?" She took back her hair, and brushed it against his cheek, making him get goosebumps. He didn't want her to know he was ticklish. He could regret that later. The ride stopped.

"All yours." He answered her question. He's always wanted to hear that coming out of her lips. It finally did, and he couldn't be happier. They stood up to exit the ride, hand in hand. Gary couldn't stop looking at Leaf. He felt like screaming out to the world about his feelings for her He wanted the world to feel what he was feeling. He wanted to pick her up and spin her around. But, instead he kept his "cool-boy" image and lifted up her Pichu and handed it to her.

"Happy birthday, Leaf." He kissed her nose before they decided it was time to head home. This night will forever be engraved in their minds, and they will never lose sight of it.


End file.
